Trickle truth - do they try to forget?

I was trying to figure out something about one of the dates in question - there was one particular evening he spent with her and I couldn't remember WHY I didn't wonder why he wasn't home. It was their first evening together, and I thought SURELY he would recall what excuse he'd given me - I thought there had to be some memory of THAT significant event burned into his brain, but it's taken him almost 2 weeks (D-Day is that recent) to come up with what was going on that night. It's been bothering me because I thought, how stupid could I be? It was a work night, so hanging with the guys into the wee hours (that excuse did work on a weekend!) wouldn't have flown! We had both forgotten this very unusual, last minute business trip. A driving one. He came home early afternoon to pack some things, and the weather was iffy so I distinctly remember him suggesting that I not call him so he could concentrate on his driving!! (Oh, yeah, DRIVING!!) HE would get in touch with me. Said he'd have to go back to work before hitting he road, had to get some stuff first, so he wouldn't be starting the drive JUST YET...(bought him some time, so the VERY late arrival wouldn't seem odd to me). I'd been asking him to think about this particular date and what excuse he gave to me, and after the first couple times he'd been resisting, saying he couldn't remember, and going over it again and again woudln't help him remember - but apparently something finally jogged his memory because it came to him. FINALLY! He says this is painful for him, and he feels so bad about it he's probably trying to forget the details. I don't know if I'm a sucker, but I think his brain is addled so it could be true. For example, the other day we walked into a store and he didn't have his wallet and he panicked, said we had to go back to the restaurant because he left it there - I reminded him we'd just left the drive-through at the bank (where we'd gone after the restaurant), so his wallet had to be either in the car or between the car and the store we just walked into (it was in the car). When we talk about the lies he told me, he often looks down when he tells me what they were - he's obviously ashamed, so I could see where he might really not be able to recall all the details that I'm asking for. I'm wondering if they try to forget, or if they are trying so hard to put it behind them that they start to get fuzzy about things just when we need details and crystal clarity about everything. He may be lying to me still, but it doesn't seem like it - I think he really couldn't remember what was going on that night until it just came to him. I think it would be a momentous event, and you'd remember the story you used to get away with it the first time you cheated on your wife (OW confirmed that this was the first time), but he has a lot of anxiety issues so that may affect his memory. There was probably a lot of anxiety going on that particular day, leaving work early with little notice and orchestrating his first sex outside of marriage and starting his business trip drive in bad weather and lying to me...

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